1175-1225;Middle Englishpigge young pig, with doubled consonant appropriate to terms for smaller animals (cf. dog, frog1) but with no obvious relations; almost certainly not akin to Low German,Dutchbig(ge), Middle Dutchvigghe young pig, which involve further obscurities; if Danishpige,Swedishpiga maid, young girl are compared, perhaps < ON word meaning “young, small,” applied in Scand to girls but in OE to swine

And if they somehow perish, the financial impact on a poor family is far less devastating than the loss of a cow or pig.

Lipstick on a pig, with animal cruelty thrown in for good measure.

Instead, to their complete surprise, they dug up the ample remains of pig bones.

Whatever it's history, it's now a secular holiday where families and friends gather together and pig out.

The war allegedly started because a foraging pig ruined a garden.

Scientists have discovered how to convert abundant, cheap, and smelly pig manure into crude oil.

Other health threats, such as antibiotic-resistant strains of staphylococcus aureus, have emerged from pig farms as well.

For apparently the first time, scientists have created a fourth-generation pig clone.

Outside, the pink pig floats in the gray air, defying the burden of its symbolism.

And then there is head cheese which is similar to souse but involves, well, the pig head.

British Dictionary definitions for pig

pig

/pɪɡ/

noun

1.

any artiodactyl mammal of the African and Eurasian family Suidae, esp Sus scrofa (domestic pig), typically having a long head with a movable snout, a thick bristle-covered skin, and, in wild species, long curved tusks

probably from Old English *picg, found in compounds, ultimate origin unknown. Originally "young pig" (the word for adults was swine). Apparently related to Low German bigge, Dutch big ("but the phonology is difficult" -- OED). The meaning "oblong piece of metal" is first attested 1580s, on the notion of "large mass." Applied to persons, usually in contempt, since 1540s; the derogatory slang meaning "police officer" has been in underworld slang since at least 1811.

Another Old English word for "pig" was fearh, related to furh "furrow," from PIE *perk- "dig, furrow" (cf. Latin porc-us "pig," see pork). "This reflects a widespread IE tendency to name animals from typical attributes or activities" [Lass]. Synonyms grunter, porker are from sailors' and fishermen's euphemistic avoidance of uttering the word pig at sea, a superstition perhaps based on the fate of the Gadarene swine, who drowned. The image of a pig in a poke is attested from 1520s (see poke (n.3)). Flying pigs as a type of something unreal is from 1610s.